Outa urges Transport Minister to suspend penalties for motorists amid driving licence backlog

Show Voice Options The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) has called for the Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, to waive fines and temporary licences for those whose new driving cards are stuck in the ongoing backlog. This comes as the Department of Transport (DoT) scrambles to clear the driving licence card backlog, which was caused by the breakdown of the sole card-printing machine earlier in April. Last week, DoT reported a backlog of 690,000, down roughly 43,000 from the 733,000 that was announced a week ago. On Tuesday, Outa’s Advocate Stefanie Fick wrote to Creecy and asked her to consider announcing a moratorium on fines related to expired driver’s licence cards for motorists who have already applied for renewals and that no temporary licences should be required until all backlogs have been cleared. She also requested the department to consider issuing public communication of this moratorium through all official channels, including the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC), provincial traffic authorities and traditional and social media. Fick added that the department must provide clarity to all enforcement officials to prevent unwarranted fines and harassment of motorists. “Recent reports confirm that the Department of Transport is currently experiencing a backlog of approximately 733,000 to 747,500 unprinted licence cards, with delays attributed to issues with card machines, administrative inefficiencies and high demand," Fick said, adding that many law-abiding motorists could be issued fines by law enforcement officials for not physically possessing their renewed cards, even when they hold receipts or valid temporary licences proving compliance. She said this practice would be unfair, adding that the public is being penalised for failures which is not their making but because of a broken system that is currently unable to meet service delivery expectations.